Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro (WiFi) - I have NEVER seen this before!
Earbuds have come a long way. And like almost all tech, they keep getting better & these Earbuds have 2 brand new features that I've never seen before. One of them is really awesome but… there's only one problem. So if you listen, hear, real quick you'll see what I'm talking about.
When it comes to earbuds and wearable audio in general, most people have a go to brand. Probably because they don't want to waste money on a less familiar audio brand even if the other options are more affordable & sound better. It's just the way of the world. But, that's why products like this are interesting. Could the sound quality, ANC and unique features be enough to win you over? Watch this & let me know.
Price & Colours
These are the Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro. Released in the first quarter of 2025. They are Xiaomi’s flagship in-ear audio offering at the time of this video. And there are two versions. The standard Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro comes in ceramic white and Titan Grey. These cost £159.99 at launch. However, I just looked and there is a £50 discount running at the time of this video. I'll post an affiliate link below so you can see if the offer is still going. Now, remember how I said there are two features I've never seen before. Well this is one of them. The unique Black Translucent version of the Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro supports a 4.2Mbps lossless audio connection over WiFi.
But, this only works with the Xiaomi 15 Ultra…which Xiaomi unfortunately did not send me for review. So, sadly I cannot tell you how much better the WiFi version would be, or how well the feature works. I can tell you the cost £40 more. So, long story short, the WiFi connection on these ones can extend the range and stability and improve the audio bit rate massively. In theory… Just know if you have a Snapdragon chip in your phone, you could be able to make use of AptX lossless. More on that in the sound quality section of this video. But if you don't have the Xiaomi 15 Ultra. In reality, all you are paying more for here on the WiFi version would be the translucent lid. Which does look really nice.
Design
I really like the almost metallic finish that these appear to have, and how the BT pairing button seamlessly blends into that. I like the gold accent around the usb c port and gold branding, and I really like how the only thing you can really see through the translucent lid is the gold trim on the earbuds stems. The body of the Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro has a metallic Matt finish, 3 very discrete mic grills on each bud and subtle wear detect sensors. And this is all sealed up to meet IP54 dust and water resistance standards. So sweat & rain are no problem. Sand shouldn't be an issue either. The biggest deal here in regards to design is the speaker grill.
It's visibly larger than almost all the earbuds that I've tested in the past. And maybe it's because these buds use a triple driver, double amp setup. So unlike Airpods for example that have just a single 11mm driver. The Xiaomi Buds 5 Pro has an 11mm driver, a Planar magnetic driver for higher pitches, and a ceramic tweeter for the mid range. And this helps to make the frequency response range here much wider. Most popular earbuds range from 20Hz to 20kHz. These range from 15-50kHz. Which in theory should make the audio experience more detailed, and clear and bass levels more powerful than most. I'll tell you what I think of the sound quality shortly.
Battery & Charging
The battery life on these buds is quite impressive with up to 8 hrs in the buds and a combined 40hrs with the case. A 10-minute quick charge of the buds in the case can give you 4.5hrs playback. And the case is Qi Wireless charging compatible. Now, let's talk about software. The Xiaomi Buds app is pre-installed on Xiaomi phones. But it is available on the PlayStore and iOs app store. The layout is nice with all your important controls up front. Including the Adaptive ANC, and the manual ANC control. I believe the option to select WiFi or BT connectivity would be here also. But, I can't show you how that would be presented. Dimensional audio. It’s essentially the Spatial audio effect, and head tracking is an option..I personally would only recommend this if you are sitting stationary, and it works well for movies when you might want that surround sound effect. You get some good audio options here. Like BT LE for when you need lower latency, for example, when gaming. Adaptive volume, adaptive sound and the Audio Quality options. AptX Adaptive is the best option. Is far superior to the AAC codec which are the best that Airpods support.
The speeds are up to 1.2Mbps, but if you have the ultra. The speeds over the WiFi connection are more than triple. The controls on the Buds 5 Pro are similar to AirPods, with them recognising pinch inputs and slides. And all of these can be remapped in the app. Now before we move onto what I think of the sound quality. I need to show you the second unique feature that I mentioned in the intro. You can configure one of the inputs to record audio to the buds themselves. Which can later be transferred to your phone. And even transcribed and Au summarised. I'm sure you could think of some clever ways to use this. Like accidentally leaving your buds on the meeting room table when you leave the room. Anyway, here's something quite unique in the software. If you jump into the Audio effects, you have two custom presets from Harman. The Audio EFX & Harman master. And if you're wondering who the hell are Harman. Well, they're only one of the biggest audio research groups on the planet.
Sound Quality
Anyway, now let's talk about the sound quality. I tested these primarily with the Harman EFX EQ since that's the one that's being promoted on the website and on the packaging. And of course over AptX Adaptive. So the first noticeable things are the spaciousness of the sound. It feels very open and airy. Generally, I test out vocal heavy tracks first, with lost instruments. And the vocal clarity is excellent. Details are also top notch. And you can tell by the EQ presets that Xiaomi is really trying to please the aspiring audiophile & actual audiophile audience. So much so that there's actually an EQ audiophile.
I tested all of these and my favourite is the Harman Master EQ. Interestingly, there is no bass boost EQ, however, there is a custom 8 band EQ to play around with, so I did dial in my own bass EQ to see what these can do with bass heavy tracks. And what's nice about these is even when you push the lower frequencies up to the maximum. The sound doesn't fall apart. They contain the bass without distortion, and in the mids and hi frequencies are not badly affected, this is probably due to the triple driver setup. Overall they're a very nice sounding pair of earbuds as you would expect at this price point and potentially they could sound even better over WiFi.
